‘If you’ll just sign here…’
He handed her a pen and Laura felt thrills scurrying through her. She’d done it. She’d actually done it.
Well, of course she had, she told herself as she floated back down to reality and worked her way through the contract. Her personal life might be a bit of a disaster, but she’d always been good at her job.
‘Will you excuse me?’ said Signore Ragazzi, cutting across her musings and picking up the phone, which had just started to ring.
He could strip and dance round his desk naked if he felt like it, Laura thought, finally getting to the last page and signing on the dotted line. She was busy wondering where would be the best place to start. The public rooms undoubtedly. Then the private areas. The gardens… Oh, the possibilities were endless and she lost herself in them.
It was only when she heard her own name that her ears pricked.
‘Yes, sir. Signorina Mackenzie has just accepted the position.’
Laura’s heart swelled with pride. She’d do the best job she could. Achieve the sort of result people would talk about for years, long after she left. After centuries of decline the palace deserved it. After all she’d been through, she deserved it.
‘Oh.’ At the tone of his voice for some reason her nerve endings tensed. ‘I’m afraid I can’t retract the offer, sir.’ His voice dropped. ‘She’s just signed the contract.’
Laura snapped her head up and stared at him. Someone wanted him to retract the offer? No, that couldn’t be possible.
Signore Ragazzi fell silent, went red and swivelled round in his chair so she couldn’t see him. ‘Nor can I rip it up,’ he added, his voice now dropping so low she had to strain to listen.
Rip it up? Who the hell was that on the other end of the line, and why did they not want her to have the job? What had she done to cause such offence? Had there been some sort of mistake and the job already been given to someone else? Laura’s chest squeezed at the thought that she might have had her dream snatched from her at the very last minute.
‘No, sir… Yes, sir… I’ll see to it immediately.’
Signore Ragazzi swivelled back and gave her a smile too bright to be genuine.
Laura clasped her hands together in her lap to stop them from flapping. ‘Is there a problem?’ she asked, bracing herself for the answer to be yes and for him to laugh and tell her it was all just one big joke.
‘No, no,’ he said, gathering up the contract she’d just signed in an effort, she suspected, to avoid eye contact. ‘Just one more tiny formality.’
‘Oh.’
He smoothed his hair, pushed his chair back and got up and indicated that she should do the same. ‘If you wouldn’t mind coming with me…’
‘Of course,’ Laura murmured, her heart beginning to thud. What on earth was going on?
The feeling of trepidation as she followed Signore Ragazzi didn’t abate. In fact it swelled to such proportions that she barely noticed the busts on pedestals lining the corridor. Or the old masters hanging on the walls. The only thing hammering at her brain was that something didn’t feel right.
Signore Ragazzi stopped in front of a pair of huge gilded doors and knocked. Laura’s heart banged with consternation.
‘Come in.’
At the sound of the voice from deep within, all the hairs at the back of her neck leapt up and her stomach clenched.
Something wasn’t right.
Because if it hadn’t been utterly impossible, she’d have sworn that that was Matt’s voice coming from the room.
But it couldn’t be Matt because that would be crazy. What would he be doing here?
No, Laura told herself, pulling her shoulders back, going through the doors that Signore Ragazzi held open and entering the room. First she’d thought she’d seen him in that restaurant in London. Now she imagined he was here? Hah. This was precisely why she’d vowed to have nothing whatsoever to do with men. They messed up your head. She was far better off sticking to inanimate objects like the crumbling cornice and the chipped reliefs that adorned this room.
Wow, she thought, her alarm momentarily vanishing as she looked up at the ceiling. Faded and dilapidated it might be, but it was still a magnificent room. And, she noted, letting her gaze drop and scan the space, an empty one. She hadn’t noticed Signore Ragazzi melt away. Perhaps she’d imagined that ‘come in’, too.
‘Hello, Laura.’
The deep lazy voice behind her nearly made her jump a foot in the air. Her heart lurched. She swung round and at the sight of the man leaning against the bookcase, his gaze pinned to her, the breath shot from her lungs. Shock and disbelief slammed through her.